IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 6 ENGLISH | Page 58

while working? When are we going to
talk about the right to use our salaries to
buy proper shoes that don’t hurt our
backs? To summarize, the demands are
so many.
Who marches in the Plaza?
What’s going on? What did the people
who went to the Plaza de la Revolución
go there to do? What are the victories
they are affirming? What is this
economic model they support all about,
and what do they say is improving about
it? Who marched? University students
have to go, because if they don’t, they
can face enormous difficulties, such as
losing their scholarship. Doctors go
because they are part of the most favored
working group; they have a business
office that coordinates their travel
abroad. This allows them to contribute to
the economy totally convertible currency
and also bring back products they cannot
purchase with their Cuban salaries
despite the fact they’ve received raises
twice. Commercial sector employees
also attend; these are the folks who
batter ordinary consumers by selling
products, even food, at prices that are
fixed in a way that always makes
consumers end up suffering. Just as the
‘5 Heroes’ and their wives, who travel
the world over thanks to the toil of
Cuban workers, those people who march
are those who say they “struggle,” which
means: anyone the government drags out
of work centers that produce products
they later sell illegally. Others who go
are employed at companies that are
mixed in nature, or rising ones, because

if they don’t, they lose benefits they
gain so long as they meet production
goals.
There are more who go:
according to Radio Reloj, hundreds of
thousands go, although that number is
far smaller than the number of people
who attended the popular gatherings of
70s, 80s, and 90s. People are very
weary, less afraid and, above all, quite
downtrodden This lack of hope leads us
to think that our only solution lies
outside Cuba, which is why many young
and not so young people emigrate. Not
one single, ordinary citizen believes that
there is any chance of improvement here
in Cuba. One sees lots of depression, sad
faces, notable aggression, and very few
smiles. People say: “What can we do, if
there is nothing more?”
The health crisis
Primary health care in Cuba is no
guarantee for anyone. Most medical
clinics have structural problems; for this
very reason, some were abandoned while
others keep functioning, but only at half
their capacity. There is great instability
among medical personnel and one sees
long lines at clinics. People are aware of
their family doctors’ limitations and seek
out specialists at hospital centers through
friends, or persuasion and patience,
sometimes offering gifts and cash.
Odontology clinics do not offer regular
service. Sometimes they lack even the
cotton, water and paper necessary to
sterilize their instruments. Between
April and May, it took me 46 days to
cure a molar because they lacked the
gloves with which to work on me. The

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